Washington: US President Joe Biden, who ended his re-election bid four months ahead of the high-stakes American presidential elections in November, is still committed to attending the annual leadership summit of Quad countries that will be held in India later this year, said the White House on Thursday (local time). The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) is a Biden-led initiative that involves India, Australia, and Japan.
“We're still committed to there being a Quad leader summit this year, but there's nothing on the calendar right now for it,” White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said at a press briefing. He said now that Biden is not running for re-election in this year's elections, he might engage in opportunities on the calendar that may not have been before.
“So we're all exploring what those opportunities can look like in terms of advancing his foreign policy agenda and national security opportunities here and around the world. But I don't have anything on the schedule to speak to now, but I mean, stay tuned... Look, I mean, we've still got a war in Ukraine, still got a war in Gaza, still got climate change to deal with,’ he said.
Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will visit Japan for the Quad Foreign Ministers meeting, scheduled to take place on July 29, Ministry of External Affairs official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Thursday. He, however, did not disclose the date of the upcoming leaders' summit that will be hosted by India.
Quad summit postponed from January
Earlier, India put off holding the Quad Summit in January this year as Biden declined an invitation to visit New Delhi as the chief guest of the Republic Day parade due to domestic concerns, and also because it was improbable to expect that the 81-year-old President would travel twice to India in the same month during a re-election year. The dates for the Quad Summit have not been announced, but it is rumoured that they will take place after the US elections in November.
The Quad is a grouping of countries driven by shared interests and values and interested in strengthening a rules-based order in the strategically important Indo-Pacific region. Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended last year's summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 20, along with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, Japanese PM Fumio Kishida and Biden. PM Modi had last year asserted the importance of consolidating Quad’s constructive agenda and delivering tangible outcomes for the region. He also invited Quad leaders to India in 2024.
Last year, the leaders of the Quad countries held productive discussions about developments in the Indo-Pacific which affirmed their shared democratic values and strategic interests. They also reiterated the importance of upholding the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and peaceful resolution of disputes, according to the Prime Minister's Office.
About the Quad
The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, is a strategic security partnership between the United States, India, Japan and Australia. It was officially launched by Japan's former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2007. The creation of this military agreement was largely linked to the military and economic power of China, which protested against the Quad and termed it as an 'Asian NATO'.
All sides have expressed that the Quad is not aimed towards any country, yet it is widely considered that the resurrection of the partnership has primarily aimed to counter Beijing's challenges to democracy and its growing aggressiveness in the Indo-Pacific region, particularly its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) across Asia and the Pacific, that comes with strings attached. The Chinese provocation in Doklam in 2017 is considered one of the major reasons for India's renewed interest in the deal.
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